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News of a much more contagious strain of the coronavirus in the UK has prompted several European countries to halt flights and trains from that country, creating a chaotic situation before Christmas.
UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced on Saturday that the capital and fringes of southern England would move to a new restrictive level of Level 4, closing non-essential shops, indoor leisure activities and hair salons from Saturday the afternoon. It would also prevent those living in affected areas, including London, from traveling non-essential.
Italian Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio said via Twitter
TWTR,
on Sunday the country would suspend flights from the UK The government of the Netherlands announced your own ban Saturday night,
Starting at midnight, Belgium will close its borders to travelers from the UK for a 24-hour period, Prime Minister Alexander De Croo announced on Sunday. The Belgian government said that anyone arriving from the UK by train or plane cannot enter the country for 24 hours, and that Eurostar connections were also temporarily stopped. He said it can be extended.
The German government is drawing up plans to restrict travel and French officials are also meeting to discuss a ban. The Spanish government asked for a “coordinated response” from Brussels, in a tweet.
Health Secretary Matt Hancock told Sky News in an interview Sunday that the new strain “was out of control” and that the government had to act “quickly and decisively.” The government’s original plan to allow a five-day holiday that would allow households to mingle as ‘bubbles’ was scrapped for Level 4 areas and cut to overnight elsewhere.
“Everyone, especially people in Level 4 areas, should behave as if they might have the virus; that’s the only way we’re going to get it under control, ”Hancock said.
Hancock criticized the chaotic travel scenes on Saturday night as commuters packed train stations to reach Christmas destinations.
Johnson said the new strain, more than 70% more transmissible than existing strains, is driving rapid spread in London and southern England. The country saw 32,155 new cases announced Sunday, compared with 22,775 on Saturday, Sky News reported.
England’s chief medical officer Chris Whitty alerted the World Health Organization that the mutation was accelerating the spread of the virus and that scientific advisers concluded that based on figures from preliminary models.
However, the virus mutation does not appear to have made patients more ill than normal. Maria Van Kerkhove, the WHO technical lead on COVID-19, told reporters after being notified by UK officials about the new strain that there were no signs that the “variant behaves differently.”
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